December 21 (SeeNews) - Albania's legislature said on Thursday it stripped former prime minister Sali Berisha of parliamentary immunity, granting a request by the country's anti-corruption body, SPAK, to put Berisha under arrest after an investigation revealed he allegedly assisted his son-in-law to unlawfully obtain 673 million leks ($6.7 million/6.3 million euros) in a 2008 privatisation deal.
The request was approved by 75 members of the 140-seat assembly, parliament speaker Lindita Nikolla said at the conclusion of the parliamentary session amid protests from opposition lawmakers, as seen in a video posted on social media.
Following the vote, Berisha said in a statement that the lifting of his immunity has prompted the opposition to further escalate protests in front of government institutions' buildings. He claimed the parliament's decision was a political move against him orchestrated by his political opponent, current prime minister and Socialist leader Edi Rama.
On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court said it had denied a request from a group of opposition members of parliament to suspend restrictive measures against Berisha which they claimed were unconstitutional.
Evidence collected by SPAK during the investigation suggested that while serving as prime minister, Berisha had made regulatory changes to facilitate the privatisation of a sporting club which his son-in-law then turned into a residential complex, obtaining profits without actually investing in the project, the anti-graft body said in October.
Sali Berisha served as the first non-communist president of Albania from 1992 to 1997 and then as prime minister from 2005 to 2013. He is the founder of Albania’s Democratic Party (PD), which he led from 1997 until his resignation in 2013. Berisha returned to PD and was elected member of parliament from PD in the 2021 general election, before being expelled from the party's parliamentary group following disagreement with then party leader Lulzim Basha.